Polish Cinema is relatively little known in the west.  Aleksander Ford and Roman Polanski are two of the more famous/infamous directors. Andrzej Wadja make films of compelling drama.  The themes, the national character comes out in many of these films.  Tragedy, especially in recent history, is foremost amongst the themes.  The suffering from conquering regimes and the helplessness of abandonment shines especially through Wadja’s works.  Kanal and Katyn are two movies where doom and gloom are the inevitable results.  The actual violence of the events (Warsaw Revolt and Katyn Massacre) perpetrated by more powerful neighbors are secondary to sheer and silent desperation faced under murderous odds.

Borders, both national and personal–such as a fence or a wall, captivate the Polish mystique.  Perhaps because Polish history is an unending series of invasions, national dismemberment, and resurrections, borders have more meaning than say in a place like Portugal (where the national border is stable).

Speaking of stable, another strong motif is the portrayal of horses.  True the Poles were once nomads from the steppes of Greater Asia.  I cannot think of a single Polish movie, set in Poland, that did not at least have a cameo of a horse.  Historical epics abound with gallant Poles on fiery steads, and more power to them.  Throughout history mounted Poles played pivotal roles in history.  Some of the best riding cinematography comes from between the Oder and the Bug Rivers.  The horse symbolizes freedom, especially when not corralled.

For some movies, check out the wiki link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Films_set_in_Poland

Silly spy action with stiff acting and a whole lot of cheap dialogue.  Ted V. Mikels is 70′s exploitation and cheap thrills at its best (or worst).  As the title implies The Doll Squad is a crew of buxom secret agents out to stop a madman from taking over the planet via bubonic plague.  Worth watching for background noise or when the beer is cheaper than the movie.  At least it serves as a comparison for other spy genre movies.

The name Katyn evokes cold blooded murder on a massive scale.  The Poles have long suffered between the giants Germany and Russia.  After the fall of Poland in 1939, 20,000 Polish officers (and some prominent civilians) were murdered in the Katyn Forest.  The Germans accused the Russians, the Russians accused the Germans.  It is generally accepted that Stalin’s troops did the crime.  This movie, naturally Polish, explores the before and after from some of the victim’s and their families’ perspectives.  Raw emotions abound as the fog of war blinds all, even those with clear vision.  Highly recommended, it is another tragedy in a very tragic world.

Taking Sides is a modern morality play, acted out in the most public of all modern forums–the immediate postwar world.  Here the ever peppery Harvey Keitel plays an insurance man out to nail a prominent orchestra conductor who was simply guilty of playing for the Nazis.  Many books and movies have been made of the collaborators and those who hunt them down.  This is a very personal stage drama where even R. Lee Emery also gets into the hellfire mood as Keitel’s “out for blood” boss.

Like the grandiose and more iconic Nuremberg Trials, Taking Sides presumes guilt without reflection on the Judge/Jury’s recent past and current prejudices.  Keitel has the conductor guilty of not standing up to the Nazi regime.  But how many nations were standing up to those in opposition?  America wanted isolation from the noise in Europe—no matter the screams.   This is an excellent work by Istavan Szabo, filled with touching classical music and agonizing themes about justice and responsibility.  In one scene that no other commentator has mentioned to my knowledge, Keital goes on to the balcony, dressed in his army khakis, stiffly standing there—minus the moustache he looked just like Hitler (Keitel had just bullied the conductor moments before).  It was perhaps a silent testimony; one that speaks volumes.

War is ugly business.  It is bad enough for the professionals who are trained and willing to take the pain.  For civilians it is much rougher as they are not trained nor prepared for the trials and tribulations.  Take Denmark in the 1940s.  Conquered swiftly and very cleanly by the Nazis, the Danes, civilians mostly, found themselves caught in a shadow war.  Not only was life’s little worries still chugging along, but now courage, trust, loyalty, cowardice, shame and such put to the test.  In Flame and Citron two ordinary Danes become assassins for the Resistance.  But like in The Black Book not everybody plays it fair and straight.  Often the honest and brave are the first to go.  This is a very compelling movie about the very guts of ethics.  Flame and Citron gets to the real meat of real life (and death) in your face living and dying under extreme duress.

The action movie John Carter was a big budget flop.  Perhaps this grand movie was in and of itself a flaccid dud.  But its timing of release was nothing short of disastrous.  It came out just days ahead of the Hunger Games.  The Games just drew in the crowds, beating box office records and hogging the spotlight.  Those who went to see the Games MIGHT have gone to see John Carter.  But I bet most had to choose and overwhelmingly they went to the Games.  It is tragically sad that movie releases can’t be better co-ordinated.  Perhaps its the cutthroat nature of the movie business.  With the ever shrinking disposable income (for most of us), movie watchers are less casual and more calculating when deciding where the limited money goes.  I have yet to see either.  But I bet John Carter is on the fast track to DVD.

For all the vastness and complexity of the World War 2 genre, some stories never get told.  Others take long decades to come out.  One well neglected story has to do with children from Finland taken in by Swedes during the Winter War of 1939-1940.  Quietly, Sweden offered to take in 70,000 children who faced danger in their home country.  Some were orphaned or semi-orphaned, all faced fear and more.  Unfortunately, most of the children of Europe faced hardships, many times worse.  Mother of Mine is about a Finnish boy and his journey, albeit to the relative luxury and safety of Sweden, and his struggle to deal with his past.  Filmed in the minimalist style of Scandinavian film making, it is a real good tear jerker and a fine historical record of a world war where even neutral nations could not help to be involved.

I came across a whole slew of Turkish movies on Internet Archive.  I am pretty sure they are not subtitled, but they still offer a glimpse into the style of Turkish cinema.  Here is the link for those interested.

http://www.archive.org/details/84639

Enjoy

A movie named S.S.  Doomtrooper has to have some pretty unpleasant stuff within its storyline.  This is truly a dark story about a bad war and fighting the enemy manifested in its worst elements combined.  The Nazis (bad) under S.S. (badder) guidance have combined Teutonic technology and super race idealism to create an unstoppable mutant Doomtrooper (baddest).   This leaves some brave people (French Resistance and Western Allies) to have to close this whole thing down.

There are no surprises here, just SiFi formulaic move making.  It was filmed with a limited lighting budget–a very dark film.  OK darkness has its value, but it can be used and abused as a way to minimize costs, like in this movie.  Otherwise, the film is alright, yet another endless re-fight circa good v. evil.

Global warming gets hotly debated.  Sometimes political motives gets mixed into the storyline.  This movie was the whole pipeline.  Wrapped in a spirit (Native Alaskan) of the Mother Earth variety, a drill team led by ever intense Ron Perlman just has to rile up the spirit world.  A tree hugger eco-watchdog, the good guy, has bad vibes as life in the little outpost gets real weird, deadly real weird.  The acting and drama gets applause, the blatant, barely covered political message was a huge turn off.

Personally, I think man has had an impact on the climate.  Billions of people daily putting CO in the atmosphere has to have a cumulative affect.  It just does not work in this movie.  A spirit world malevolent attacking an oil outpost, great.  Wanna make a movie-a documentary-about the dangers of climate change–drill on.  But the best messages are the ones subtly introduced.  The Last Winter is ok, just ok.